The Aquadome – community collective in Kirksville, Missouri.
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What is The Aquadome?
The Aquadome is a non-profit, volunteer-operated venue dedicated to promoting art, music and community in Kirksville, Missouri. It is, unfortunately, not a water park.

Who runs it?
We have an exec board of five members that is elected each Fall and Spring. They get to handle all the boring jobs like paying bills and filing out business forms and organizing the calendar and sending endless emails. But they also get to do rad things like book bands and decorate and meet a lot of interesting people. But by no means do they run the Aquadome alone. The countless volunteers that help at our events are immeasurably important. They keep they place operational and the board members from having panic attacks.

How is the Aquadome funded?
The Aquadome requires around $500 each month for rent and utilities. On top of that, there are licenses we have to pay for here and there. How have we been getting by so far? Admission from shows, fundraising, donations, and, on occasion, scrounging from the board member’s pockets. Anytime you come to one of our events, donate, or tell your friends about us, you are helping to keep us open.

How do I get involved?
Good question! If you have time, money, a talent you’ve been dying to share, extra folding chairs, if you can push a broom, if you can paint a masterpiece, we want your help. If you have an empty place inside you, the Aquadome can probably fill it. Just shoot us an email theaquadome@gmail.com or talk to us in person at an event.

What’s the history of the Aquadome?
The Aquadome has actually existed in two separate generations. The venue was first opened sometime in 2000 by a small group of people invested in DIY culture, free thought, consensus-based decisions, art, and music. The founders had close ties with the Campus Music Collective, a Truman State student organization that booked small shows on campus. The Aquadome later became home to some of the group’s events.

During the Aquadome’s first generation, the venue was home to shows, a haunted house, a carnival, bookbinding workshops, karate lessons, breakdancing parties, weekly vegan dinners, vegan potlucks on Sundays, figure drawing classes, screen-printing lessons, political organizing, film screenings, and art shows (including the Tom Thumb Gallery, a traveling art show). The building was also used as practice space for bands, studio space for artists, a rental space for various groups, and a meetings place for clubs and organizations such as Anti-Racist Action and the Lonely Minds Club.

After nearly a four-year run, the venue closed early in 2004 due to financial problems.

The second generation of the Aquadome began in the summer of 2011, when Brie Vuagniaux rented out a dirty, old storefront. Having heard stories about the old venue from former volunteers, she was inspired and began fixing the place up. When the fall semester arrived, Brie and new volunteers started throwing shows and the venue as it exists today started taking shape.

If you would like more information about the Aquadome’s history, our press page is a good place to start.

In the spring of 2014, the physical location of the Aquadome collapsed due to what news reports reffered to as a “land hurricane.” Since then, the Aquadome has kept on trukin, throwing shows, poetry slams, and open mics at local shops and unrented buildings.